Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Topic · Instrumentation

Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies

Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies is a research topic within Instrumentation. Science Explorer counts 23k research works in it since 1950. 19.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of advances in time-of-flight imaging techniques, including laser ranging, single-photon detection, lidar systems, and non-line-of-sight imaging. The papers discuss applications such as 3D imaging, depth sensing, and photon counting in various scenarios.

  • Time-of-Flight
  • Laser Ranging
  • Single-Photon Detection
  • 3D Imaging
  • Range Camera
  • Lidar
  • Photon Counting
  • CMOS Sensor
  • Depth Sensing
  • Non-Line-of-Sight Imaging
Research works
23k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
19.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+31%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.4k and 706 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 United States 706 works
  3. 3 Germany 241 works
  4. 4 Japan 222 works
  5. 5 South Korea 179 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 176 works
  7. 7 France 122 works
  8. 8 India 118 works
  9. 9 Italy 114 works
  10. 10 Russia 100 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 54.7%United States: 16.2%Germany: 5.5%Japan: 5.1%6 others listed: 18.5%55%largest
China2,386 · 54.7%United States706 · 16.2%Germany241 · 5.5%Japan222 · 5.1%6 others listed809 · 18.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research, followed by University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Harbin Institute of Technology.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 73 works
  2. 2 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62 works
  3. 3 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 62 works
  4. 4 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 57 works
  5. 5 Tsinghua UniversityChina 52 works
  6. 6 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 52 works
  7. 7 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 51 works
  8. 8 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 51 works
  9. 9 Nanjing University of Science and TechnologyChina 48 works
  10. 10 Xidian UniversityChina 46 works

Where is Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research done?

The largest centres of Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Xi'an (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hsinchu.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 587 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 198 works
  3. 3 Xi'an China 176 works
  4. 4 Nanjing China 174 works
  5. 5 Chengdu China 101 works
  6. 6 Wuhan China 100 works
  7. 7 Tokyo Japan 91 works
  8. 8 Hefei China 85 works
  9. 9 Harbin China 83 works
  10. 10 Hangzhou China 83 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HsinchuTW · 26.4 works6.1×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies than the world average.

See Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, Heriot-Watt University, Xidian University and University of Science and Technology of China score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 21.15%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Heriot-Watt University: 9, 26.1%Xidian University: 46, 24.0%University of Science and Technology of China: 43, 24.6%Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics: 32, 16.6%National University of Defense Technology: 51, 16.5%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 62, 19.1%Shanghai Jiao Tong University: 52, 17.6%École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: 16, 27.2%Harbin Institute of Technology: 62, 21.8%University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: 51, 18.0%Heriot-Watt UniversityUniversity of Scienc…Xidian UniversityNanjing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Heriot-Watt UniversityUnited Kingdom 67.926.1%16.3×9 +212.0%
2 Xidian UniversityChina 65.024.0%12.4×46 +27.5%
3 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 58.324.6%7.2×43 +42.7%
4 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 57.916.6%7.2×32 +255.6%
5 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 57.316.5%13.1×51 +5.5%
6 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 57.019.1%7.5×62 +23.0%
7 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 57.017.6%4.8×52 +211.1%
8 École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland 56.627.2%7.7×16 +27.8%
9 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 56.121.8%7.5×62 -16.2%
10 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 56.118.0%9.1×51 -19.5%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 31% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.